The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a wildly popular game that has won numerous awards, received a patch today for PC gamers that takes the game to v1.9 should users opt-in for the Beta via Steam. Confirmed on the official Bethesda Blog, the v1.9 patch will be officially released later in March not just for PC but also for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Recently, Bethesda made good to disenfranchised PS3 owners by releasing the much-anticipated Dragonborn DLC at a 50% discount that hasn’t been offered to Xbox 360 and PC users yet.

Starting today on Steam, owners of Skyrim can opt-in to the beta version of Skyrim 1.9 title update, which features “Legendary” new features and numerous bug fixes. In order for PC gamers to participate and receive the v1.9 version of Skyrim, they will need to go into the Steam Library and right click on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. From there, select “Properties” and then select the Beta tab and opt-in using the drop box.

[adsense336itp]It’s recommended to gamers that want to participate in the v1.9 Beta to first backup their saves and also make sure not to overwrite any preexisting save game files. Bethesda has stated that if you decide to opt out of the beta program, old saves will still work with the existing v1.8 version of Skyrim.

One of the main new features is the “Legendary” difficulty setting. Presumably this means that combat will be Barney Stinson worthy, a welcome addition for many Skyrim players that feel that even the higher difficulty levels come much to easy for a well developed and evolved character in the game.

Another new feature is the option to have “Legendary Skills” meaning that skills which are maxed out at 100 can be made Legendary, which resets the skill to 15, returns the perks and allows the skill to affect leveling once more. Thanks to this, the overall level cap is removed.

In terms of bug fixes there are approximately (at last count) 73 different bug fixes, big and small, addressed by this patch. Some are best defined as a rare issue that would crash the game when a particular set of circumstances would occur within the game. Others are broad, such as “general memory and stability improvements” and issues with quest scripts not shutting down proerply. There’s also some long overdue bugs addressed, such as companions equipping better weapons and armor if given them by the player. In addition, comical bugs like couriers appearing only dressed in a hat (sounds like a feature, not a bug!) were also addressed.

Bethesda has encouraged those that opt-in for the beat to let them know what you think on the official Bethesda Skyrim beta discussion board. They also recommend running the update with no user-made mods installed and for those that create them, to take the opportunity to test their mods to make sure they stay compliant with the new v1.9 update of Skyrim.

Sean Gibson was the founder of Gaming Illustrated and served as Executive Editor and lead reviewer from 2002 to 2014. He no longer is affiliated with Gaming Illustrated, but remembers his time with the site fondly.